Synopses & Reviews
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a militant political group known as the PKK, is infamous for its extreme violence. The struggle it has waged for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey has taken in excess of 40,000 lives since 1984. Less well known, however, is the fact that the PKK now embraces a non-violent end to the conflict; its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, ordered a ceasefire in March of 2013 and engaged in peace negotiations with the Ankara Government. Whether or not these tentative attempts at peacemaking will mean an eventual end to the bloodshed, these events will have potentially huge ramifications for Turkey and the surrounding region.
This book charts the ideological evolution of the PKK, as well as its origins, aims, and organizational setup. In doing so, Paul White provides the only authoritative and up-to-date analysis of one of the most important non-state political players in the contemporary Middle East.
Synopsis
This book provides an up-to-date account of the Kurdish Question and Kurdish national movement in Turkey. It applies an innovative theoretical approach to analyse extensive primary sources to better understand the rise, evolution of Kurdish nationalism and the contemporary contours of Kurdish identity and ideology.
Synopsis
This book provides an interpretive and critical analysis of Kurdish identity, nationalism and national movement in Turkey since the 1960s. By raising issues and questions relating to Kurdish political identity and highlighting the ideological specificity, diversity and the transformation of Kurdish nationalism, it develops a new empirical dimension to the study of the Kurds in Turkey.
Cengiz Gunes applies an innovative theoretical approach to the analysis of an impressively large volume of primary sources and data drawn from books and magazines published by Kurdish activists, political parties and groups. The analysis focuses on the specific demands articulated by the Kurdish national movement and looks at Kurdish nationalism at a specific level by disaggregating the nationalist discourse, showing variations over time and across different Kurdish nationalist organisations. Situating contemporary Kurdish political identity and its political manifestations within a historical framework, the author examines the historical and structural conditions that gave rise to it and influenced its evolution since the 1960s. The analysis also encompasses an account of the organisational growth and evolution of the Kurdish national movement, including the political parties and groups that were active in the period.
Bringing the study of the organisational development and growth of the Kurdish National Movement in Turkey up to date, this book will be an important reference for students and scholars of Middle Eastern politics, social movements, nationalism and conflict.
Synopsis
Applying an innovative theoretical approach to the Kurdish Question and Kurdish national movement in Turkey, this book draws on extensive analysis of primary sources to better understand the rise and evolution of Kurdish nationalism and the contemporary contours of Kurdish identity and ideology.
About the Author
Paul White is a visiting lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta, Indonesia.
Table of Contents
Glossary of organizations, cities and towns
Glossary of key figures
Chronology of significant events
Preface
1. Introduction: ‘The Time of Revolution has Started’
2. PKK Origins and Ideological Formation
3. Early Years of Struggle
4. From Ceasefire to All-out War
5. The Move Towards Peace
6. Democratic Confedaralism and the PKK’s Feminist Transformation
7. Coming Down from the Mountains
References